Don't tell me that you understand
Don't tell me that you know
Don't tell me that I will survive
How I will surely grow
Don't tell me this is just a test
That I am only blessed
That I am chosen for this task
Apart from all the rest
Don't come at me with answers
That can only come from me
Don't tell me that my grief will pass
That I will soon be free
Don't stand in pious judgement
Of the bonds I must untie
Don't tell me how to suffer
Don't tell me how to cry
My life is filled with selfishness
My pain is all I see
But I need you, I need your love
Unconditionally
Accept me in my ups and downs
I need someone to share
Just hold my hand and let me cry
And say, "My friend, I care"
I looked through the clouds and what did I see
The face of my Mother and her thoughts were of me
Her eyes filled with tears and her face looked so sad
My wings fluttered softly and I felt so bad
For I could do nothing to change how she felt
Nor could I alter the hand fate dealt
My tears fell like raindrops, my heart felt so tight
I lifted my face to heaven and told God of my plight
For I can never be free just to fly
As long as there's one lonely tear in your eye
And though what has happened was not my own choice
The plan, my mother dear, came from a much higher voice
As the birthday of our Savior and Lord draws so near
I have a small plea I would like you to hear
Remember me, Mom, with happiness and smiles
And know when you do, my soul will soar miles
My wings will be light and my heart will be free
In the brightest sunshine is where you'll see me
the loss of one weak creature makes a void in any heart,
so wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth
of eternity can fill it up.
Down below the surface of a quiet pond lived a little colony of water bugs. They were a happy colony, living far away from the sun. For many months they were very busy, scurrying over the soft mud on the bottom of the pond. They did notice that every once in a while one of their colony seemed to lose interest in going about with its friends. Clinging to the stem of a pond lily, it gradually moved out of sight and was seen no more.
"Look!" said one of the water bugs to another, "One of our colony is climbing up the lily stalk. Where do you think she's going?" Up, up, up it slowly went... Even as they watched, the water bug disappeared from sight. Its friends waited and waited but it didn't return...
"That's funny!" said one water bug to another... " Wasn't she happy here?" asked a second... "Where do you suppose she went?" wondered a third... No one had an answer. They were greatly puzzled.
Finally one of the water bugs gathered its friends together. "I have an idea. The next one of us who climbs up the lily stalk must promise to come back and tell us where he or she went and why." "We promise" they said solemnly.
One spring day not long after the very water bug who had suggested the plan found himself climbing up the lily stalk. Up, up, up he went. Before he knew what was happening, he had broken through the surface of the water and fallen into the broad and free lily pad above.
When he awoke, he looked about with surprise. He couldn't believe what he saw. A startling change had come over his old body. His movement revealed four silver wings and a long tail.
Even as he struggled, he felt an impulse to move his wings... The warmth of the sun soon dried the moisture from his new body. He moved his wings again and suddenly found himself above the water.
He had become a dragonfly. Swooping and dipping in great curves, he flew through the air. He felt exhilarated in the new atmosphere.
By and by the new dragonfly landed happily on a lily pad to rest. Then it was that he chanced to look below to the bottom of the pond. Why, he was right above his old friends, the water bugs! There they were scurrying around, just as he had been doing some time before.
Then the dragonfly remembered the promise. without thinking, the dragonfly darted down. Suddenly he hit the surface of the water and bounced away. Now that he was a dragonfly, he could no longer go into the water...
"I can't return!" he said in dismay. "At least I tried. But I can't keep my promise. Even if I could go back, not one of the water bugs would know me in my new body. I guess I'll just have to wait until they become dragonflies too. Then they'll understand what has happened to me, and where I went."
And the dragonfly winged off happily into its wonderful new world of sun and air...
Dear God, please look after Tony, who has left the pond we live in.
